CHERPU: A young man in possession of 4.5 gm MDMA was caught by Cherpu excise officials on Monday. Vallachira native Abhirag (20) was arrested by Cherpu Excise Inspector Murukadas and his team.

The arrest was based on a tip-off received which mentioned a large-scale drug trade that is continuing unhindered at Vishnu's house in Vallachira ‘Laksham Veedu’ Colony. The accused used meticulous tactics to evade scrutiny as no payments were made to his account while cash dealings happened through alternate accounts not related to him.

With the money received through the drug trade, Abhirag would often make leisure visits to Goa and Bangalore. When on his way back, Abhirag brought banned drug materials mostly found in Goa and Bangalore. There is a special group on the social media application Telegram solely for this purpose. Abhirag had a strong customer base through this heinous business such that all the banned drugs used to get sold out like hotcakes.

For the drugs to weigh more, Abhirag used to crush leaves and bulbs and then mix the rubbles with the same.

Excise Preventive Officers Praveen Kumar, Suresh Kumar, George and Krishna Prasad, along with Civil Excise Officers Sijomon, Jose and Subhash and Women Civil Excise Officers Praseetha, Hima and Shaiju were part of the team that nabbed the accused.